DIY History | Transcribe | Nile Kinnick Collection | Nile Kinnick airplane crash correspondence, 1943-1972

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Nile Kinnick airplane crash correspondence, 1943-1972

1948-10: Page 01

   My name is Dan Kosanovich. My home is Lorraine, Ohio. I was machinist, second class, on the U.S.S. Lexington, off Trinidad, in the Caribbean.
   I was on the flight deck as Nile Kinnick took off in the afternoon. As a rule, they send the fighter planes out first because they are the first to encounter the enemy. We were practicing war operations. The pilots were landing and taking off two and three times a day, and firing at targets.
   I was a plane captain. We checked the pilots' planes.
   Kinnick had checked his plane with the plane captain -- the mechanic. He got in the plane and put his thumbs up, indicating that everything was in shape.
   The air officer gave the signal to the flagman, and the pilot was told to start his engine and race it for a while.
   The pilots would take off rapidly, it being a matter of seconds between each plane going into the air.
   When Kinnick got his plane up 150 feet in the air from the take-off, his plane just keeled right over and made a perfect landing on the water, about 100 yards from the side of the carrier.
   When he took off the plane was in good condition, as he would not have been able to climb to 150 feet if it had not been.
   When the plane landed on the water Kinnick got out of the cock-pit and onto the wing of the plane. He had on a Mae West (an inflated rubber covering the chest) and jumped into the water, to get away from the suction as the plane went under the water. He was afloat

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My name is Dan Kosanovich. My home is Lorraine, Ohio. I was machinist, second class, on the U.S.S. Lexington, off Trinidad, in the Caribbean. I was on the flight deck as Nile Kinnick took off in the afternoon. As a rule, they send the fighter planes out first because they are the first to encounter the enemy. We were practicing war operations. The pilots were landing and taking off two and three times a day, and firing at targets. I was a plane captain. We checked the pilots' planes. Kinnick had checked his plane with the plane captain -- the mechanic. He got in the plane and put his thumbs up, indicating that everything was in shape. The air officer gave the signal to the flagman, and the pilot was told to start his engine and race it for a while. The pilots would take off rapidly, it being a matter of seconds between each plane going into the air. When Kinnick got his plane up 150 feet in the air from the take-off, his plane just keeled right over and made a perfect landing on the water, about 100 yards from the side of the carrier. When he took off the plane was in good condition, as he would not have been able to climb to 150 feet if it had not been. When the plane landed on the water Kinnick got out of the cock-pit and onto the wing of the plane. He had on a Mae West (an inflated rubber covering the chest) and jumped into the water, to get away from the suction as the plane went under the water. He was afloat